Sapper Beasts
Sapper Beasts, also known as "Mage-Hunters", are two-headed hyena like creatures with many crystals jutting out of their bodies. They are rare and only found in Tyrrus, but are famous for their anti-magic abilities. Appearance Sapper Beasts are about the size of a large dog, some can grow up to the size of a wolf. They are very hyena-like in appearance. They have brown fur dotted with darker spots and possess a dark mane that goes from their heads to their tail. They have two heads, both heads are not always identical. Perhaps the most striking feature of the Sapper Beasts are the crystal formations that grow on their bodies. These mostly occur on their shoulders and along their back, close to the mane. Some have smaller crystal formations on their faces above their eyes. Behaviour Sapper beasts must feed on two things to survive; Meat and Mana. They are mostly scavengers and eat the remains of other predator's kills, feeding on the innate essence of mana inside all living beings. However, often this is not enough and a hungry Sapper will attempt to hunt down mages or magical items to feed off the magic inside them. When sated, Sapper beasts are docile. However, it is incredibly difficult to tame one of the beasts because they become incredibly hostile towards everything when they are hungry, due to the fact that most things have some sort of mana inside them that the beast can feed on. Sapper Beasts live only in Tyrrus and can live in the wild or in urban environments. Many of the beasts live in the Dragonvale and in or around Haven, due to the high concentration of mages living in that area. There are not enough Sapper Beasts to enable them to create packs, and as such they are often solitary creatures. Sapper Beasts cannot feed on creatures from other realms, such as ghosts, but are still able to counteract their magic. Capabilities Sapper Beasts have powerful magic to counteract other magic. Since their main prey is magical beings, this comes in incredibly useful. They have an invisible field around them within which magic cannot be cast and they can generate an invisible shield which deflects all magic. Not only this, but they are also able to feast on a target's mana from a distance. To make things worse, they can only be affected by a psychic effect if both heads are affected. This makes fighting a Sapper Beast with magic an almost impossible task. Sapper Beasts have a sort of "mana vision", which lets them see mana through physical obstacles and illusions. This is perhaps what gave them the nick-name "Mage-Hunters". Additionally, they can sense magic being used nearby. Some of the more powerful Sappers can silence a mage with their stare, stopping them from casting any magic at all. Sapper Beasts are no match for a strong fighter, but they may prove a significant challenge for those who rely on magic. History Nobody is quite sure where the Sapper Beasts came from. Most blame the mages of the Citadel, but more scientific minds claim they are simply a product of the natural magic within Tyrrus. In the year 600, Zythia had a mass culling of the beasts, since she worried that with their voracious appetite for magic they might eventually form large groups and attack the dragons.